WW-P South boys are favorites for MCC
By: Justin Feil
Ruddy Lopez can do a little of everything and do it well.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro South senior can juggle a schedule with the best of them. At practice with the Pirate boys’ track and field team, he’s back and forth in a combination of events truly rare at any level.
"Since I started track," said Lopez, "I’ve been mixed around with everybody."
Lopez spends part of his training with distance runners in order to prepare for the 800 meters, though in the winter he also has proven to be a solid miler. He spends another portion of his time with the sprinters as he develops speed for the hurdles. And he finds even more time to be with the jumpers in the pole vault, a technical event that he gave a try freshman year and found he was athletic enough to do. Finally, he even stays after practice with the hurdles crew to work on technique in the only time that they can.
"I work with distance kids and they’re different from sprinters," Lopez said. "Then the jumpers, it’s a very different atmosphere. The distance kids are determined. The sprinters are more focused in on what they’re doing. Then I get time with the pole vault. And the hurdlers, we stay after 5 o’clock. There’s only four of us.
"It all pays off. I personally have never done so good before. You can give it all you have. It’s my last year. I’m trying to push as hard as I can. Little by little, it pays off."
Lopez was part of a history-making Pirates team that won the Mercer County Outdoor Track and Field Relays for the first time in program history Saturday. He was a part of four relays to finish second place.
"Kids like Ruddy who haven’t had a chance to shine, they’re adding depth," said Pirates head coach Todd Smith. "Ruddy got four second-place finishes and that helps out tremendously. To see him perform well in his senior year is nice. And we have a lot of kids like that."
It’s why the Pirates had such a good day Saturday. The win puts them in the favored role for the upcoming Mercer County Championships this Saturday, though first the Pirates will have a test in a dual meet against Notre Dame today. WW-P South comes off a dominant performance in the relay meet.
The 4×100 relay of Yashon Odera, Joe Brown, Stuart Adams and Brian Soltau broke the meet record by running 42.9 seconds and the 4×400 relay of Brown, Sifiso Takirambudde, Adams and Soltau did the same in running 3:24.0. The Pirates also won the distance medley, 4xmile and javelin.
"A lot of kids brought home medals. The javelin was the surprise of the day," said Smith of J.B. Fitzgerald and Brian Yam’s showing. "That was nice. They’ve both been working hard. Brian Yam had a 16-foot PR.
"In the 4×100, we’ve been working hand-offs pretty hard lately," he added. "They were not happy after the Penn Relays. They noticed they were the slowest 4×100 for Mercer County at Penn. I think our kids were real tentative before with the exchanges. We told them if they’re going to win, it’s going to have to be on the edge (of disqualification for dropping the baton)."
Lopez was part of four relays that were on the edge of winning gold. He combined with Takirambudde Matt Skepner for the 3xintermediate hurdles, ran with Adams, Takirambudde and Jarrett Austin in the shuttle hurdles, teamed with Andrew Long who cleared 13 feet individually in the pole vault and anchored the 4×800 that also included Neelan Manuelpillai, Mike Meers and Stephan Haggerty. About the only drawback to such a busy day is that Lopez couldn’t take his vault at 10-feet-6 due to a hurdles relay race and when he returned he had to come in at too great a height. It didn’t diminish a great day for the Pirates.
"We knew Trenton wouldn’t be there, so I believe we were really confident," Lopez said. "We’ve been working hard the last two weeks for this. I was really confident in my 800 and my hurdles and my teammates."
Lopez, who also plays soccer for WW-P South, has seen quite a development among the Pirates track and field team since he started four years ago. He’s happy to be leaving on a high note.
"My freshman year, I didn’t think the team was doing so good," he said. "My sophomore year, it just got better. Junior year, we got really good. We started to have people stand up. They’ve gotten so much better. My senior year, we’ve got some talented people.
"I started off running a 2:16 for the 800," he added of his own improvements. "Now I’m down to 2:06 or 2:05. It has to be because of the coaches and they’re so determined to make these times. They want us to succeed. They want us to take track from high school to college. When you’re given an opportunity, it’s up to you to take it."
The Pirates did so to stay ahead of second-place Notre Dame in the team standings. WW-P North finished fifth led by second-place showings in the 4×100 and distance medley relays as well as the triple jump. Princeton High was seventh as their 4×800 relay team of Pete Callahan, Dan Gallagher, Dan Cavallaro and Christophe Dorsey were victorious.
On the girls’ side, Hopewell Valley proved best. WW-P South was second ahead of PHS team that had plenty of winners. The Little Tigers won the 4×100, the 4×200, the triple jump, the sprint medley and the long jump relays. WW-P North was sixth in the team standings led by second-place finishes in the shuttle hurdles and 3xintermediate hurdles.
The day, however, belonged to the Pirate boys. It started well with Lopez and his teammates finishing second in the intermediate hurdles relay.
"It’s a good way to start off," Lopez said. "The intermediate hurdles are always the first event. I feel like it’s the most important thing to get off to a good start. In a dual meet, it opens everything up. It’s like a preview to the show."
Ruddy Lopez and the Pirates are hoping their relay championship is just a preview of big finishes to come as they get into the team championship this weekend and look beyond it to sectionals and states.